Data Center Record.

The sourced public record of data center development.

Daily Record

September 3, 2026

24 entries published that day. Each is one sourced row of the record: what happened, where, and where it came from. Nothing here is an article and nothing is unapproved.

  1. California Reference figure

    Tom's Hardware citing researchers. water to grow one almond: 1.1 gal. agricultural water footprint, 2015. tomshardware.com

  2. global Reference figure

    Equinix 2024 sustainability report. water consumption, Equinix fleet: 1.2 billion gal/yr. onsite consumption, 2024. equinix.com

  3. France Reference figure

    Mistral AI environmental audit. water per 400 token response: 45 mL. lifecycle, 2025. mistral.ai

  4. No state Reference figure

    Tom's Hardware. queries per almond implied by Altman 2025 figure: 85 to 5,500 queries. onsite only, mixed boundaries, 2026. tomshardware.com

  5. global Reference figure

    Google blog, climate conscious data center cooling (2022). water consumption, average Google data center: 450,000 gal/day. onsite consumption, 2021. blog.google

  6. Memphis, TN Reference figure

    multiple outlets. water draw, single site: 1 million gal/day. onsite withdrawal, 2025. felloai.com

  7. United States Reference figure

    LBNL 2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report (LBNL-2001637). direct water consumption, all US data centers: 17.4 billion gal/yr. onsite cooling only, 2023. eta.lbl.gov

  8. No state Reference figure

    Sam Altman, Sources podcast (Sept 2 2026). water use, office building equivalent: not disclosed. not disclosed. tomshardware.com

  9. global Reference figure

    Google 2025 Environmental Report. fleet water usage effectiveness: 1.15 L/kWh. onsite cooling only, 2024. sustainability.google

  10. United States Reference figure

    Washington Post with UC Riverside (Ren). water per 100 word email: 519 (235 to 1,408) mL. onsite cooling plus electricity generation, 2024. washingtonpost.com

  11. global fleet Reference figure

    Google, Measuring the environmental impact of AI inference (Aug 2025). water per median text prompt: 0.26 mL/prompt. onsite cooling plus overhead, 2025. datacenterdynamics.com

  12. Spanish Fork, UT Reference figure

    Daily Herald, Cougar Chronicle. water use, proposed closed loop site: 250,000 gal/yr. onsite, developer claim, 2026. heraldextra.com

  13. United States Reference figure

    LBNL 2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report. projected direct water consumption, US hyperscale only: 16 to 33 billion gal/yr. onsite cooling only, 2028. eta.lbl.gov

  14. Fayette County, GA Reference figure

    Tom's Hardware citing local reporting. water consumption, single site: 29 million gal over 15 months. onsite, as reported by local records, 2025. tomshardware.com

  15. United States Reference figure

    Li, Yang, Islam, Ren, Making AI Less Thirsty (2023, updated 2025). water per 10 to 50 medium length responses: 500 mL. onsite cooling plus electricity generation, 2023. arxiv.org

  16. not disclosed Reference figure

    Sam Altman, The Gentle Singularity (blog, June 16 2025). water per average query: 0.32 mL/query. not disclosed, 2025. blog.samaltman.com

  17. United States Reference figure

    LBNL 2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report. indirect water consumption via electricity generation, all US data centers: 211 billion gal/yr. offsite, power plant water for electricity consumed, 2023. eta.lbl.gov

  18. United States Reference figure

    LBNL 2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report. indirect water intensity of electricity: 4.52 L/kWh. offsite, power generation, 2023. eta.lbl.gov

  19. United States Reference figure

    LBNL 2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report. average site water usage effectiveness: 0.36 L/kWh. onsite cooling only, 2023. eta.lbl.gov

  20. global Reference figure

    Google 2025 Environmental Report. water consumption, Google data center fleet: 6.1 billion gal/yr. onsite consumption, 2024. sustainability.google

  21. No state Statement

    Sam Altman, CEO, OpenAI. About 38,000 ChatGPT queries use the water of one California almond; modern large data centers use about as much water as an office building; evaporative cooling has not been used in a long time. Speaker said the figure was from memory and might be wrong. Said on 2026-09-02, Sources podcast with Alex Heath. tomshardware.com

  22. No state Statement

    Sam Altman, CEO, OpenAI. "The average query uses about 0.34 watt hours and about 0.000085 gallons of water, roughly one fifteenth of a teaspoon." Said on 2025-06-16, Personal blog, The Gentle Singularity. blog.samaltman.com

  23. Utah Statement

    Mike Mendenhall, Mayor, Spanish Fork City. Called the Volition proposal an opportunity for the city and said it warrants moving forward to see if a private business can deliver on what it proposes, with guard rails in place. Said on 2026-08-25, Facebook post. ksl.com

  24. Utah Statement

    Jeff Chavez, CEO, Volition Industries. Facility would generate its own power with natural gas fuel cells, never connect to the grid, use closed loop cooling with a one time 500,000 gal fill and 250,000 gal per year, and request no tax breaks. Said on 2026-08-18, Spanish Fork City Council public hearing. heraldextra.com

A row's day is the day it was written to the record. The same rows appear on the record pages they belong to; this page is the dated log of them.